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Handbook of Acute Leukemia pp 41–51Cite as

Therapeutic management of acute myeloid leukemia

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Abstract

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is considered a curable disease and hence the primary therapeutic intention in a patient with newly diagnosed AML should be to cure the patient with intensive chemotherapy. However, there are two main reasons why clinicians should not follow this approach: firstly, intensive chemotherapy cannot be administered safely due to comorbidities (or patient refusal), and secondly, the patient will not benefit from intensive chemotherapy because of high-risk AML, which requires allogeneic stem cell transplantation that cannot be performed because of advanced age, comorbidities, or patient refusal. Such patients will receive palliative care as a cure is not achievable. Importantly, advanced age alone is no reason for withholding intensive chemotherapy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine III, Klinikum der Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Michael Fiegl

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  1. Michael Fiegl
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Internal Medicine III, Munich University Hospital, Munich, Germany

    Wolfgang Hiddemann

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Fiegl, M. (2016). Therapeutic management of acute myeloid leukemia. In: Hiddemann, W. (eds) Handbook of Acute Leukemia. Adis, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26772-2_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26772-2_5

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  • Publisher Name: Adis, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-26770-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-26772-2

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